Innovant was making open plan furniture before open plan furniture was cool. It is the New York company's ability to stay ahead of workplace trends that has helped it grow from a nice maker of trading desk furniture to an open plan powerhouse.
The company started in the financial market in 1990 and has steadily gained traction in other markets. It was launched by industry veterans Charles Braham, Garrett Pluck and Joan Gullans and fed off the growth of the financial sector, specializing in the relocation of banks, investment firms and hedge funds. The company continues to branch out from these areas.
Now, it is ahead of a trend that has been emerging for several years: unassigned workspaces or hoteling. The trend started slowly, said Director of Marketing and Design Bruce Wells, but it's pace is picking up considerably.
“What we are noticing — and it may apply to larger institutions and organizations more than the 50-person office — is a significant shift or at least interest in unassigned workspace,” he said. “We have been hammered with it here in New York and Chicago. It is not like it is a new idea. It has been trickling around the fringe for 10 years. But as far as widespread adoption, we are just feeling it. It's just noticeable. Three years ago, the conversation didn't exist at all.”
Organizations are adopting unassigned workspaces, perhaps not for the whole workplace, but for sizable chunks of it, Wells said. Innovant recently completed a 1,000-plus seat project for Credit Suisse and is doing a similar project for Morgan Stanley in Manhattan.
It is a sweet spot for Innovant since it has emerged as a company that knows collaborative furniture design and how to develop tailored workstation, conference and private offices for some of the world's most prestigious corporate clients. The company has always focused on optimizing real estate, promoting employee productivity and ensuring long-term value to the client business.
“It is easy to say, 'Just give us the desks like you've always done.' There is more to it than that,” Wells said. “Companies we work with, they want data, data collection and occupancy information. When you have unassigned workspaces, everyone gets to pick and choose how they work.
“Innovant wants to help our customers understand what's working, not just give them a one-size-fits-all environment. Data has almost become mandatory now because people are sitting at a different desk every single day. Our customers want to know what's working. If you go in blind, that creates a fair amount of anxiety.”
Innovant is good at providing that expert guidance along the way, collaborating with client teams to determine optimal product configurations. It works from a consultative approach to holistically address all aspects of the furniture and interiors lifecycle.
That close relationship with its customers has helped Innovant recognize workplace trends like hoteling early on. By identifying those trends, the company has been able to design products almost before the trend begins. Innovant also offers a wide variety of customizable workplace furniture options. Products range from sit-stand desks to balanced office concepts that embody the brand's dedication to creating adaptable, custom-tailored pieces and desire to satisfy the needs of the marketplace. Innovant's products have remained on the cutting edge because of the company's foresight into not only what customers want, but what they need.
There are puzzles Innovant (and the rest of the industry)is still trying to figure out. One of those issues is how to accommodate storage in an office that doesn't have a permanent desk for each employee. Obviously, with the aforementioned hoteling trend, workers can't simply leave personal items on a desk that doesn't belong solely to them. And simply giving each worker a pedestal that they have to empty out at the end of the day won't work either.
Still, Wells said an unassigned workspace does not have to look like a high school cafeteria. After doing benching for more than a decade, Innovant understands private spaces need to be included. Privacy is “creeping back into the conversation and creeping back into spaces,” he said.
In short, offices are getting a lot more diverse in terms of space. A lot of mixing and matching of different categories is happening. Trends in the office are coming faster, too, which has benefitted Innovant. Its product development cycle is much quicker than the majors, Wells said.
“The majors have 500 dealers to train on new products,” he said. “We don't do that. We are always super nimble — modern, intelligent and tailored. When the world of work is in chaos, we tend to do very well. Innovant can quickly show up with a solution. Change is good for us. If everyone just settled on what we are going to do in the workplace for the next 10 years, we wouldn't be around for long.”